PBR

July 22, 2023 · in Ships · · 18 · 467

When I was a kid, my nextdoor neighbor, several years my elder, went into the Navy. He wound up in the force. He was on either a Swift or a .

When came out with their PBR, I jumped at the chance to build it. I thought about Joe as I assembled the boat.

I wondered what it must have been like to cruise up and down the rivers of .

Year went by and recently I got the chance to build another PBR. This time I dedicated more time in building the boat. I added a few minor details.

All the while, I thought of Joe and where he might be today. Joe made it back from Vietnam. He got married and moved on with his life. I hope he would be happy with my PBR.

Reader reactions:
7  Awesome 1 

5 additional images. Click to enlarge.


18 responses

  1. Excellent PBR, Tom! Great that you drew inspiration frmo Joe

  2. Excellent PBR, Tom! Great that you drew inspiration from Joe!

  3. Nice boat and the figures are great.

  4. Very good result, Tom @tomandrews
    The crew members are a great addition.

  5. It's always nice to link to real history through models. Really interesting story and nice model.

  6. Very good model, Andrew, the figures especially lift it out of the ordinary. On Amazon’s Grand Tour programme Jeremy Clarkson had a new one built as apparently none have been preserved.

  7. Thanks for the kind words.
    There is one PBR. It is in a museum in Texas.

  8. Looks great! Reminds me of the movie "Apocalypse Now" and "PBR Street Gang" ferrying a young Martin Sheen up the river.

    I had a coworker years ago who joined the Coast Guard to avoid getting drafted and going to Vietnam. He ended up serving on a PBR on the Mekong River.

  9. Nicely done Andrew!

  10. Thanks!

    Tom Andrews

  11. Don't get off the boat! Great job. My son did the Tamiya Pibber many years ago. Called the twin .50 turret Canned Heat, can't think why. Great model, nicely done

  12. Yes, don’t get off the boat! Thanks!

  13. Very nice work Great dio!

    Steve

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